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Carer's sickness pay?

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Lib
Lib Community member Posts: 13 Listener
edited August 2016 in Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
My son's carer has gone on longterm sick. Are we liable to pay her sick pay? As well as paying for someone else to cover her hours?
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  • Debbie_Alumni
    Debbie_Alumni Community member Posts: 932 Pioneering
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    Hello Lib,

    As a small employer you are legally required to pay the Carer's sick pay. Prior to April 5th 2014, small employers were able to claim some of the Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)payments back from HMRC, if the employee was off sick for four days or more and earned more than £110 per week. You should get in touch with your local authority to see what they can do to help you cover any shortfall in your son's care account, and if they will reimburse the Statutory Sick Pay as an associated cost of employing a PA. You will also need to pay to cover the hours lost. It's important that you speak to your local authority as soon as you can.

    A guide to SSP for employers can be found on the government website https://www.gov.uk/employers-sick-pay/overview

    I hope you manage to get this sorted out. Keep in touch and let us know how you get on.

    Best wishes
    Debbie
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  • Lib
    Lib Community member Posts: 13 Listener
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    Hi Debbie
    Thanks for the advice. My son's carer is now going on holiday for 5 weeks, are we liable to pay her ssp during this time too? If we want to decrease her hours,when she does come back to work, can we do so? Is their an advisory body that can help us? We don't want to do the wrong thing and are not sure what her and our rights are.
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  • Debbie_Alumni
    Debbie_Alumni Community member Posts: 932 Pioneering
    edited November 2015
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    Hi Lib,

    Sorry for the late reply, I've been on leave.
    I believe that you would be liable to pay her SSP during her holiday. I'm assuming that the carer is signed off and has a sick note to cover her. If this is the case, then yes you would be liable.
    There's some information on the ACAS website about this and if you have any further questions, they should be able to assist you http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4264

    Did you get in touch with the local authority to see if they can help with the shortfall and if so, what did they say?
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